Executive orders - Tom Clancy [459]
Who authorized that? the President asked.
I did, Jackson replied.
Invading another country's airspace?
J-2 and I are running this. You want us to know what they're up to and what their capabilities are, don't you?
Yes, I need that.
Good, you tell me what to do, and let me worry about how, all right? It's a stealthy platform. It self-destructs if it goes out of control or the guys directing it don't like something, and it gives us very good real-time data we can't get from satellites, or even from J-STARS, and we don't have one of those over there at the moment. Any other questions, Mr. President?
Touché, Admiral. What's the take look like?
They're looking better than our initial intelligence assessment led us to expect. Nobody's panicking yet, but this is starting to get our attention.
What about Turkestan? Ryan asked.
They're evidently trying to get elections going, but that's old information, and that's all we know on the political side. The overall situation there is quiet at the moment. Satellites show increased cross-border traffic-mainly trade, the overhead-intelligence guys think, nothing more than that.
Anybody looking at Iranian-damn, UIR-troop dispositions on the border?
I don't know. I can check. Jackson made a note. Next, we've spotted the Indian navy.
How?
They're not making a secret of anything. I had 'em send a pair of Orions off from Diego Garcia. They spotted our friends from three hundred miles out, electronic emissions. They are about four hundred miles offshore from their base. And, by the way, that places them directly between Diego and the entrance to the Persian Gulf. Our defense attaché will drop in tomorrow to ask what they're up to. They probably won't tell him very much.
If they don't, I think maybe Ambassador Williams will have to make a call of his own.
Good idea. And that's the summary of today's news, unless you want the trivia. Robby tucked his documents away. What do your speeches look like?
The theme is common sense, the President reported. In Washington?
ADLER WAS NOT overly pleased. On arriving in Beijing, he'd learned that the timing wasn't good. His aircraft had gotten in on what had turned out to be a Saturday evening-the date line again, he realized-then he learned that the important ministers were out of town, studiously downplaying the significance of the air battle over the strait, and giving him a chance to recover from jet lag so that he would be up to a serious meeting. Or so they'd said.
What a pleasure to have you here, the Foreign Minister said, taking the American's hand and guiding him into his private office. Another man was waiting in there. Do you know Zhang Han San?
No, how do you do, Minister? Adler asked, taking his hand as well. So, this was what he looked like.
People took their seats. Adler was alone. In addition to the two PRC ministers, there was an interpreter, a woman in her early thirties.
Your flight was a pleasant one? the Foreign Minister inquired.
Coming to your country is always pleasant, but I do wish the flight were faster, Adler admitted.
The effects of travel on the body are often difficult, and the body does affect the mind. I trust you have had some time to recover. It is important, the Foreign Minister went on, that high-level discussions, especially in times of unpleasantness, are not clouded by extraneous complications.
I am well rested, Adler assured them. He'd gotten plenty of sleep. It was just that he wasn't sure what time it was in whatever location his body thought itself to be. And the interests of peace and stability compel us to make the occasional sacrifice.
That is so true.
Minister, the unfortunate events of the last week have troubled my country, SecState told his hosts.
Why do those bandits seek to provoke us? the Foreign Minister asked. Our forces are conducting exercises, that is all. And they shot down two of our aircraft. The crewmen are all dead. They have families. This is very sad, but I hope you have noted